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Baltimore Development Corporation
The Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) is a nonprofit corporation and public-private agency contracted by the City of Baltimore to promote economic development.
The City of Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) traces its origins to 1991 when it was established under Mayor Kurt Schmoke's administration. BDC resulted from the consolidation of three predecessor organizations: City Center - Inner Harbor Development Inc., Baltimore Economic Development Corporation (BEDCO), and the Market Center Redevelopment Authority. Established as a non-profit corporation, BDC received its 501c3 status in 1992. Over the last three decades, BDC has continuously evolved and currently operates as the city's principal economic development agency.
In 1994, BDC established the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) to support innovation. In 2018, it launched Made in Baltimore (MIB) as a program to further its initiatives. Both ETC and MIB later became independent nonprofit organizations, with primary funding from BDC.
BDC aims to support economic growth in the city by retaining, expanding, and attracting businesses, promoting investment, and increasing employment opportunities for residents.
The merger came in the wake of an expansion of the Open Meetings Act provoked by the City Council's frustration with the opacity of CC-IH.
The BDC is not directly accountable to the municipal government of Baltimore. However, its board is appointed by the Mayor, and many of its economic programs require approval from the Baltimore City Council.
The BDC has a complicated legal status because it is a public-private status agency, also a non-profit organization, but also closely involved in city business. Criticisms of the BDC's secrecy and its predecessors since the early 1980s amid infamous charges then of a "shadow government" against the administration of then Mayor William Donald Schaefer, (1921-2011), [served 1971-1986], by the then Baltimore City Council President Walter S. Orlinsky and long-time financial/political "gadfly" Comptroller of the City, Hyman A. Pressman, (1914-1996), which circulated in the Baltimore media, including especially The Baltimore Sun, resulted in a 2006 Maryland Court of Appeals case titled City of Baltimore Development Corporation v. Carmel Realty Associates.
In this case, the court ruled that the BDC "was" subject to the Maryland "Public Information Act" and the Maryland "Open Meetings Act", rules that, like the federal Freedom of Information Act, require government bodies to disclose information to citizens. The main rationale for this decision was the mayor's control over the appointment of the board.
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Baltimore Development Corporation
The Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) is a nonprofit corporation and public-private agency contracted by the City of Baltimore to promote economic development.
The City of Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) traces its origins to 1991 when it was established under Mayor Kurt Schmoke's administration. BDC resulted from the consolidation of three predecessor organizations: City Center - Inner Harbor Development Inc., Baltimore Economic Development Corporation (BEDCO), and the Market Center Redevelopment Authority. Established as a non-profit corporation, BDC received its 501c3 status in 1992. Over the last three decades, BDC has continuously evolved and currently operates as the city's principal economic development agency.
In 1994, BDC established the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC) to support innovation. In 2018, it launched Made in Baltimore (MIB) as a program to further its initiatives. Both ETC and MIB later became independent nonprofit organizations, with primary funding from BDC.
BDC aims to support economic growth in the city by retaining, expanding, and attracting businesses, promoting investment, and increasing employment opportunities for residents.
The merger came in the wake of an expansion of the Open Meetings Act provoked by the City Council's frustration with the opacity of CC-IH.
The BDC is not directly accountable to the municipal government of Baltimore. However, its board is appointed by the Mayor, and many of its economic programs require approval from the Baltimore City Council.
The BDC has a complicated legal status because it is a public-private status agency, also a non-profit organization, but also closely involved in city business. Criticisms of the BDC's secrecy and its predecessors since the early 1980s amid infamous charges then of a "shadow government" against the administration of then Mayor William Donald Schaefer, (1921-2011), [served 1971-1986], by the then Baltimore City Council President Walter S. Orlinsky and long-time financial/political "gadfly" Comptroller of the City, Hyman A. Pressman, (1914-1996), which circulated in the Baltimore media, including especially The Baltimore Sun, resulted in a 2006 Maryland Court of Appeals case titled City of Baltimore Development Corporation v. Carmel Realty Associates.
In this case, the court ruled that the BDC "was" subject to the Maryland "Public Information Act" and the Maryland "Open Meetings Act", rules that, like the federal Freedom of Information Act, require government bodies to disclose information to citizens. The main rationale for this decision was the mayor's control over the appointment of the board.